"It wasn't any one thing, it wasn't any one event," Sabathia said Friday night at Bowlmor Times Square, where he and his wife, Amber, hosted a party for the 5th Annual CC Challenge, part of his PitCCh In Foundation, which assists inner-city youth. "I think that's what people are trying to hold on to and grasp, but it wasn't. It was just me trying to get a hold of this problem that I have, and I felt like that was the best way to do it was to check myself into rehab."

On Oct. 5, the 35-year-old lefthander entered a 30-day rehab program at a facility in Connecticut. It was the day before the Yankees' wild-card game against the Astros at the Stadium, not an ideal time, Sabathia said, but something that had to be done.

"As a man, as a person, as a father, as a husband, I had to do it," said Sabathia, who dates his drinking problem to late in the 2012 season.

Sabathia informed Joe Girardi, among others, of his decision Oct. 4 in the manager's office at Camden Yards. How it played publicly was the least of his concerns, meaning not at all.

"Ron and everybody else was trying to figure out how they could spin it, but for me, I really didn't care what people thought of it," Sabathia said of his publicist, Ron Berkowitz, whom the pitcher greeted with a big hug when he saw him Friday night at the event. "I just knew I needed to get the help for myself, and that's what I did."

Carlos Beltran, a guest of Sabathia's on Friday night, said he admired his teammate for making his issue public.

"We were all surprised as a team, but at the same time, this situation is very personal. It was something that was really killing him inside and he needed to address it," Beltran said. "There was no options for him, so as a team we'll support him. It shows what kind of person he is."

Sabathia has been out of rehab less than a week but already is focusing on the 2016 season. He went 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA last year but, after a return from the disabled list late in the season, he was 2-1 with a 2.17 ERA in his last five starts.

"Since I've been out already, I've been playing catch pretty much every day," said Sabathia, who felt he was aided by a new brace he wore the final month that protected his troublesome right knee. "I'm going to be ready. I want to kind of hold on to those last four or five starts that I had and take those with me into spring training and kind of build off that."

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He said the knee that has given him so much difficulty the last two years has never felt better.

"This will be the first normal offseason I've had in a couple of years, to be able to work and really get the rehabbing right with my knee and get my legs strong to be able to pitch a whole season," he said. "My goal next year is to make all my starts and not to go on the DL. I feel like if I can do that, my numbers will be there if I'm healthy."

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